The Pacers and Thunder have constructed a series that has put the lie to the notion that there are insurmountable leads in basketball. The 20-point lead, once the gold standard, is now 30, and even then there's a little white-knuckling to be done. But like any absolute counterfactual, sometimes the percentages get in the way. In fact, in every case of a team getting a 30-point lead, it was once a 20-point lead. Sometimes an ass-kicking is just an ass-kicking.
Enter Game 7 of the NBA Finals, coming Sunday night to a television near you. The Pacers, who have gained their ultra-plucky reputation as the team that lets the other guy get the 20-point lead before eradicating it, finally went nearly wire-to-wire (minus the first three-and-a-half minutes) in a 108–91 beatdown of the Thunder to force El Juego Definitivo.